Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-08-29
HOW OLD Is SHE?
Birth $3.50 - Tagg5O Mitchell, ElottE, Roge
OoShiac, @ros EyttDEg, Boteno Dau-
vray, Al.s, ssohen and Others,


Correspondence CT tle Gazette.
NEW YORK, Avg, 2t-Is isn't polite to
ask lady what her age is. DON'T know
whether or not Res 4SaYbud'B book Of
etiquette says anything about this de-
ecripton Of gaucheIie, but other lzbo1ious-
IL compiled books Oh social matters 90
make such reference, aud presumably
these authorities are il TIE right. How
ever, il 1t isr timpolite TO ask q question
q this kind, il Is a. I'll e, ents waste OF
time, because vou Won't get the right an
sWer. OF course every lady knows Wien
she Tas born. He~ friends tel ner, Just
IS sOol q SIC can understand, and she
often remembers the date If me occur
renee until she is eighteen
OF twenty years cid. Sometimes
late7 than J7a>;t she Is strong minced,
LIS Z long time 20 remember. But Gfcer 9
lady passes twenty, her memory is sp4 70
fail heI. nave known q widow 20 go
into court sul under the most rigid cro.s-
examination lemCnatr2te her Inability to
come within Zen years OF her real age.
TheGe people wco advertise their rSad!-
Il SIS to strengthen the human memory
might give some attention to these pCinta.
Zone o. these fOrgetful widows died the
other day. She kad kept her son il
kpirkegbOCEeGs until lie was eighteen s0d
her daughter il short dresses even be
yund taat cge. And know IS I watched
some q her friends reading {he i1scrip-
tio1 on the ccftil where her age was re-
corded that their grief must have been
largely mingled with eGtOliShmert.
When . lacy is an &C TesS, and this hap
pens ! suppose whenever an actress is Il
lady. her lnability to remember snythiug
about her as. becomes more humorous
end widespread. Any reference 70 the
subject IS Liable TO throw her into byster-
les u spasns Of preyaTicsUion. Af1eT she
t-aiES herself she takes matters more
calmly. SIC spopgas Of the tablets Of
her memory aHd grimIy faces the quss-
tioning world. She ignores the calender.
Mile. M4rs played girls parts on the
stage OF Paris until some one threw
wreath Of immorte!leS st her feet. Even
this didn't wake her Up. Scribe wrote
her play with young aud
spr!ghtiy grandmother IL it and
S pretty girl part among the char
acters for the juvenile lady. When tha
reading was flashed, Mars sald mat she
/ liked the girls part very we'll, and wanted
&c know who would DC he grandmother.
Spch illustrations might he multiplied
i1de flnite]v. 3aude Il3rrisCn was sued
the other day by g physici&r. and she op-
posed the suit on the ground that she Was
not OF age when Lhe eelyices were rem
dered, ard said she was now twenty
eight. The physician said she vas thirty
eight. The brutal cruelty OF the simple
and direct statement, which was made
wIthou. comm n OF any Eird, has been
selt0n Is ever oqu8ied. The sympathy
CT every right minded mGn is with the
bAdgerGd actress. With every actress
| youth, or the reputation "a being young,
IS among her chief ettrscti0rs, ard she
| should not be lightly deprived Of it. Oc-
CSsiOnenY, however, the star Of the loot
| lights IS aggressive. Aged though She
| mGY be, she pTocla2ns Her youth. And
kwhen she abend0Es the defensive end
assumes The offensive, she GffandS cur
| intelligence, and sympathy for her
vanishes. Here YES Minnie Palmer cele-
brating her nineteenth birthday in Lon
don in 1884, when the records will show
! that she WAS starring in the United States
eleven years before th&t time IN play
called the "Red Flag" or ct 3 time
when, according 10 this calculation,
she w8s eight years old. Why, she ap-
peared II New York in 1879 at what is
now the Fourteenth Street Theater ard
played the leads in farCes sud buTlegque S
under Matt MoTgau's management.
She would then have b=an eleven years OF
age. This is precGcity with vengeance
1t used to be fun 10 ask "Mein BrUdeT,''
y. Imre Kiralty, how old Nile. De Rosa
was. The great deviseC CT spectacle
would run his fingers tr6mblingly through
his curly hair and express the opinion
that she must "pe nearly t'venty-Sheven"
ard then beg the questi0nar not to say
anything about it. Nobody ever did
fad out exactly how old De Ross
was, and as she is married now,
it don't make any particular difference
Isaac Norciss, who figured very promi-
nently as a manager Of comic opera
when the craze for that description of
entertainment started in, enjoyed the DIS
tiGction Of putting the most ancient queer
OF comic opera forwerd who ever ap-
peared in this city. She came from Bos
ton, and was one Of re fitst representa-
4 tives OF Bettina II the Mascot. | believe
indeed, that she wGs the very first. After
leaving here size wen: On the road, and
the story came back that she died in SONG
provincial town of sheer Old age. At al
events, she mas never been seen here
since.
About twenty years sgo young maj
began TO collect materials for q biogra-
ply OF stage people. The experience he
met with on trying to get the actresse:
of that time to tell the dates Of their
births may be guessed at. BE was per
fectly innocent about it. Ee sent me {
!: circular, which embodied what ne though
wsre some very commonplace questions
But tbs replies from actresses, which ert
long aud detailed enough in nearly 81
directions, were invariably silent on the
matter of birthdays. That part was
) lodged altogether. Miss Brown wrote
simply that she WAS born in New Orleans
and was educated IN such and such
school. Then the autobiogra pher skipped
a score or so Of years and mentioned tina
her first professional success was made s.
Lady OF Lyons. And here the frs
date appeared. The innocent young NAL
+ wrote back that the actress had omitted
: to speak Of her parents, or of this thin!
or nat, and concluded with casus